


champagne problems

by vengefulvillain (sweetsorrowss)



Series: the evermore collection [2]
Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28931745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetsorrowss/pseuds/vengefulvillain
Summary: your heart was glass, i dropped it.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Series: the evermore collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097765
Comments: 5
Kudos: 66





	champagne problems

Alex Claremont-Diaz stared ahead, hardly comprehending the low hum of the plane’s engine as it drifted smoothly through the sky.

Amy had the good grace to sit at the opposite end of the plane, so far away Alex forgot she was there entirely. She was typing something on her phone, sneaking occasional glances at Alex.

Alex fiddled with the small box in his shaking hands, trying his best to hold himself together.

He could not break. He was not going to break.

The ring inside was still there, still unapologetically _there,_ like it was mocking him. It did not care that its presence was enough to shatter Alex’s heart into thousands of tiny pieces that would spread themselves wide across the floor. It did not care because it was not needed.

Because Henry had said no.

Because Alex had seen the look in Henry’s eyes the moment he knelt down into that cursed position and held up the box. Henry’s face had fallen, his eyes immediately widening not with happiness or surprise but with dread.

And Alex had said those four stupid words and Henry could barely muster out the words to reject him. 

“I can’t,” Henry had said and Alex’s heart had dropped so low he wasn’t sure he even still had it. All he could do was freeze up and stare at Henry, holding the ring box like an idiot as Henry took a few shaky steps back and shook his head.

“I’m sorry,” he had said, his voice broken. Alex didn’t even have it in him to comfort him. All he could do was watch. “I can’t, Alex. I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Alex had asked. His voice came out stronger than he had been expecting despite the very real fact that he was breaking from the inside out.

Henry was trembling, that much Alex could see through the tears blurring his own eyes. “You know I can’t,” Henry said through a sob. “You know people like us don’t get that kind of ending.”

And then Henry had left, just like that, slipping through the doors of the museum Henry loved so much and he was gone, undeniably gone and suddenly the room was too large and Alex was alone, still holding the small box with the ring inside and wishing he had never woken up that morning.

Amy, to her credit, did not ask questions when Alex abruptly told her they were leaving, they just left.

Left without so much as a goodbye text.

Alex could feel his phone buzzing maniacally in his pocket. He had _told_ June and Nora and his mom and Zahra and every damn person he knew what he was doing, _why_ he was going to London.

And they all wanted to know how it went. They wanted to know when the date was, wanted to know who was going to be on the guest list.

There was no date. There was no guest list.

Alex wasn’t sure if there was _anything_ anymore.

So he ignored the texts the entire flight back to DC. He did not say anything to Amy as the two of them stepped out of the plane and made the journey back to the White House. 

But he was greeted, on his way to go drink himself into oblivion in the peace and quiet of his own room, by June, Nora, Leo, and the President herself sitting in the living room with bright smiles on their faces.

Alex could not escape in time before they saw him. June stood up, holding a bottle of champagne and a few glasses with a bright grin on her face that fell immediately when she actually _looked_ at Alex.

“What happened?” Ellen asked, and only then did Alex finally break.

Only then did the other four people in the room realize they were not about to celebrate, they were not about to get shitfaced drunk with Alex and his fiancé.

Instead, Alex sank to the ground as if his legs were not enough to hold him up anymore. It was Nora who caught him, who pulled him into her arms as he burst into tears and sobbed into her chest. Ellen rushed to his side, running her fingers through his hair, because in that moment she was not the President of the United States but a mom who was worried about her son.

He didn’t know how long he sat like that, huddled with his family. At some point he was moved from the floor onto the couch but he hardly even remembered the transition. 

June asked what happened. Alex shook his head.

“Did he really say no?” Nora asked.

Alex nodded.

Later that night, after he’d insisted he was fine and wanted to be alone, he slipped away into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. He grabbed the ring box from his pocket and threw it across the room as hard as he could, watching as it hit the ground with a satisfying _thump._

He grabbed his phone and texted Henry before he could convince himself otherwise. A simple good night message, an ‘I love you’ at the end because he did not want whatever beautiful thing they had to die.

The message did not send.

Alex wasn’t even surprised when the small red exclamation mark appeared next to the message.

He stared at it for so long his eyes started to burn, his finger hovering over the ‘try again’ icon even though he knew it wasn’t going to work.

Henry blocked him.

Henry _blocked_ him.

He tried Twitter, tried sending him a quick DM, but that message didn’t go through either. Neither did Instagram. 

And just like that, Alex couldn’t contact his boyfriend.

Because it was the internet, nothing could go down unnoticed, it wasn’t long before people noticed that Alex and Henry unfollowed each other.

In fact, it was only a matter of about twenty minutes after Alex realized he’d been blocked when #royalbreakup was trending on Twitter and it took everything within Alex not to throw his phone across the room.

He thought about going to ask June for her phone, or creating a new account entirely just to talk to him, but the more he thought, the more he realized it wasn’t worth it.

If Henry didn’t want to talk to him, he wasn’t going to. So instead, Alex buried his face in his pillows and cried until he had no tears left.

_______

It had been a week.

Henry hadn’t touched his phone since the night Alex left, not after he was suddenly spammed with DMs on every social media account he had about his relationship from people who didn't actually care about him. 

He just wanted Alex.

But Alex deserved _better._ Alex wasn’t stuck in this sort of position for life like Henry was. Alex didn’t need the expectations that came with being part of the royal family. Alex didn’t deserve spending the rest of his life deciphering Henry’s constantly changing emotions and dealing with the days Henry could hardly even breathe.

And what would his family say? The Queen would never allow Henry to marry Alex. He knew that. Because despite everything, she still expected him to marry a nice young lady and die unhappy.

He had known for a long time that what he had with Alex was impossible, but he didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t want to hurt Alex by breaking it off.

And now he felt like a monster.

Alex was much better than Henry at pretending nothing was wrong. Alex, with his perfect politician smile continuing to do interviews for the news, carefully dodging the questions regarding their relationship.

Henry, on the contrary, had gone into hiding. 

Until one day, while Henry laid in bed with David at his feet and a movie playing on his laptop in front of him, Bea entered his room without knocking. She folded her arms and leveled her gaze on Henry.

“Talk to Alex,” she said.

Henry closed his laptop and rubbed his eyes before sitting up, shaking his head. “Alex doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“How do you know that?” she asked. “You haven’t exactly given him a chance.”

“Because I…” Henry blinked away the sudden tears that filled his eyes, lowering his gaze. “He hates me.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Bea, I said _no_.”

Bea sighed, sitting down at the edge of the bed. She scratched David’s ears and he wagged his tail appreciatively. “I love you, Henry, but sometimes you are the biggest idiot I have ever met.”

Henry nodded, laying back down. “Thanks.”

“Just please talk to him.”

“Whatever.”

She sighed, before standing again. “At least unblock him.”

“Maybe.”

And then she was gone, closing the door behind her and Henry let his hand hover over his laptop to finish his movie before his eyes drifted to his phone.

He got up before he could change his mind, abruptly changing into clothes that made him look less like he’d been in bed for seven days straight and more like the Prince of Wales.

Shaan could hardly conceal his surprise when Henry suddenly barged into the room he was in. 

“Henry-”

“I’m going to DC.”

“You’re _what? Now?_ ”

“Yes,” Henry said. “Can you come?”

And because Shaan wanted to keep his job, he nodded, rolled his eyes, and followed Henry out.

Henry fidgeted the entire plane ride there, unable to shake the feeling that he was making a mistake. But even if Alex _did_ hate him, even if he had ruined any chance the two of them had of at least being happy, at least he would have some sort of closure. Some ending to the most wonderful story of his life.

So he stood in front of the White House with all the confidence of someone trying to win back their boyfriend, feeling sort of like he was going to be sick.

Shaan had asked someone to go get Alex for them because Henry didn’t have the words. Henry contemplated turning around and running away.

And then suddenly, there Alex was. If Henry didn’t know Alex, he would say he looked just fine. But Henry knew Alex perfectly, had memorized every little nook and cranny of his body. There were barely noticeable dark circles under Alex’s eyes, his shirt was wrinkled and his hair was a mess and the moment they locked eyes, Alex’s face fell. He said something to the Secret Service agent accompanying him and the agent left, Shaan trailing after him, and they were alone in the same garden where it had all begun.

“Nice to see you’re not dead,” Alex said flatly.

Henry had no speech memorized. He felt suddenly extremely unprepared.

“Alex-”

“Why did you block me?” Alex asked. “Why would you suddenly just completely fucking _ghost_ me out of nowhere? I understand if you don’t want to marry me, but that was-”

“Unfair, I know,” Henry said.

“I was going to say it was a dick move.”

Henry nodded. “That’s… that’s also true.”

“What do you want, Henry?” Alex asked, looking very much like he wanted to be anywhere else. 

Henry looked down. “I… I’m sorry about… what happened.”

Alex nodded. “Is that it?”

Henry took a deep breath. "Alex, I-"

"Listen, Henry, I have things to do, so if you're just here to say you're sorry like a good little _prince_ then you can go now. Whatever. I don't care."

“Alex, I love you, I just don’t… I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Do what?”

“Marry you.”

Alex studied him for a moment. “If you’re not ready, that’s okay.”

Henry let out a shaky breath. “I want to, I really do, it’s just… hard.”

Alex frowned, folding his arms. “Why?”

“Don’t you realize what you’d be getting yourself into?” Henry asked, his voice cracking. “All the expectations, the constant judgement, dealing with all of _this_ for the rest of your goddamn life-”

“I don’t _care,”_ Alex said. “Henry, I don’t care what happens as long as I end up with you.”

Henry bit back a sob. “I don’t want you to get hurt-”

“I won’t, Henry.”

“You don’t know that,” Henry said. “I can’t fathom how you’d want to be with _me.”_

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Henry closed his eyes. He couldn’t do this. He wanted to go home.

“Henry.”

Henry didn’t respond. 

“ _Baby.”_

Henry cursed mentally and opened his eyes.

"What?" Henry's voice broke entirely and he let out a sob.

Alex was closer now, reaching his hands up to wipe the tears off Henry’s face.

“Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out together, okay?” Alex said.

“I don’t want to let you down.”

“You won’t,” Alex said. 

“I sort of just did,” Henry said, and the two of them laughed sadly. Henry sniffled, wiping the tears on his cheeks. 

“You were scared, I get it.”

“I shouldn’t have done that though.”

“No,” Alex agreed. “Probably not.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Alex said. “Baby, it’s okay.”

“Can I change my answer then?”

Alex tilted his head to the side and Henry nearly died, he was so in love and he felt so _stupid_. 

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“Um… I know it’s… sort of late, but I… um. Yes. I want to marry you.”

Alex’s lips spread into a wide grin and he kissed Henry, clasping his hand behind Henry’s head and burying his fingers in his hair. Henry smiled through the kiss, pulling away after several beautiful moments.

“I don’t have the ring with me,” Alex laughed through his tears. “It’s in my room.”

Henry smiled, brushing his lips against Alex’s one more time. “Well I suggest we go there, then.”

Alex grinned and nodded, lowering his hand to intertwine his fingers with Henry’s. “Let’s do it.”

Henry’s heart was lighter as he followed Alex inside. That fear still lingered. The fear that told him he wasn’t enough for Alex, that Alex deserved better, but he pushed those thoughts to the side the moment they stepped into Alex’s room and Alex slipped the ring onto Henry’s finger after grabbing it from where it had been on the ground. (Henry had no idea _why_ it was on the ground, but he didn't ask).

And then Alex was pushing him onto the bed, kissing him, using his thumbs to brush the tears that remained on Henry's face because Henry was still a goddamned _mess._ He kissed him like it was their first time again, like nothing else mattered in the whole entire world because nothing really did anyway. Alex mumbled something about Henry 'making it up to him' and Henry eagerly nodded, pulling Alex closer.

And suddenly, he no longer cared what his family thought, what the _world_ thought, because Alex was _his._

And nothing, not even the Queen of England herself, could take that away.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> [ stalk me on twitter ](https://twitter.com/zichensmoon)


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